


Smiles and Meltdowns

by orphan_account



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Autistic Luigi, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 18:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13059438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What if Luigi was autistic?--Partially inspired by a Love Hina fanfic with the same premise.Many weeks of research was put into this fic! Although I tried hard not to, please tell me if anything about this fanfic offends you in any way!





	Smiles and Meltdowns

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Keitaro, the Savant](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/345642) by GlazedandConfused. 



It was a quiet evening in the Mushroom Kingdom, just the way the brothers liked it.

Especially Luigi.

He sat curled up in front of his bedroom window, gazing out at the night sky as he slowly rocked back and forth. He mumbled quietly to himself as he rocked, twiddling his fingers as he did so. Personally, Luigi loved how the night sky sparkled gently. He loved the view from his bedroom more than anything.

His bedroom lights were dimmed considerably as a result of his light sensitivity.

He glanced at his watch from time to time. 9:28. Almost bath time. But he had to wait for Mario. 

No worries, he was always on time when it came to this.

While he waited, the younger brother lightly stroked and pulled at the fabric of his shirt. Cotton.

He loved the way it felt between his fingers. Heck, he loved the way it felt on his skin. 

Luigi was idly humming to himself, now more focused on his sleeves as he rocked, when Mario arrived.

“Luigi! It’s bath time, lil’ bro.”

No response.

“Luigi?” Mario tried again.

He looked up at him, but gave no eye contact-instead focusing on the smoke alarm in the distance.

“Come on, Luigi. Ready for a bath?” Mario coaxed. 

“Yeah,” was Luigi’s only response.

Nodding, Mario went over to help him up, holding out his hand to the younger brother. To his amusement Luigi reached out and shook his hand.

Mario giggled at his brother’s innocence. “No, silly. I need you to get up, okay?”

“Yeah.”

With a sigh Mario reached to Luigi’s hips to pick him up, but stopped dead in his tracks when Luigi immediately flinched away and tightly curled into  himself, screaming in fright as he rocked on his knees.  
He forgot that Luigi was VERY sensitive to touch, especially around his hips.

Sighing softly, Mario squatted down to him and gently stroked his back to try and soothe him. “Hey, hey..I’m sorry, lil’ bro.” Whenever Luigi had a meltdown, it would take a while to soothe him. This was no exception. But Mario couldn’t lose his patience now. He stayed by his little brother’s side, gently stroking his shoulders and whispering softly to him...at least until he finally calmed down, peeking up from behind his arms and looking around. He looked confused and worried.

By the time Luigi had calmed down the sky had darkened considerably. That could only mean one thing…a storm was coming.

“Alright, lil’ bro. Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for bed,” Mario sighed. He needed to redirect Luigi’s attention away from the thunderstorm as much as he could to avoid any other meltdowns tonight.

“Yeah. Ready for bed,” Luigi repeated. He stood up and tightly clasped Mario’s hand as he led him to the bathroom. Already a small boom of thunder rumbled through the skies, making both brothers momentarily flinch.

“It..It’s okay, Luigi. You’re safe, okay?”   
  
No response-Luigi was nervously staring out the window. Thunderstorms usually meant havoc for someone especially sensitive to sudden bright lights and loud noises, like Luigi himself. Mario could sense he was on the verge of another meltdown.

“Luigi..You’re okay, little bro. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” Mario tried again.

  
“Yeah..” Luigi mumbled after a bit of silence and silently followed Mario into the bathroom, where a warm bath waited for him.

“Do you need help getting undressed?” Mario asked.

“No.” 

“Okay. I’ll be right outside if you need me, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Smiling, Mario shuffled out of the bathroom and closed the door, heading down to the kitchen to warm up some spaghetti for himself.

\--

Luigi awkwardly shuffled out of his clothes and gingerly dipped his toes into the bath water, as if he were stepping into a swimming pool. He  _ hated _ cold bath water for a variety of reasons; most, if not all of them, due to sensory issues.

He slowly slid into the warm, silky water when he was convinced it was warm enough. 

And when he was fully submerged, he washed himself up at his own pace-rather slowly, to be honest. Although he seemed more interested in rearranging the soaps in a straight line, humming lightly to himself all the while.

Thunder boomed loudly from outside the bathroom door, making Luigi flinch and instinctively curl into himself, his hands tightly clasped over his ears. He whined a bit as he tried desperately to block out the sudden noises around him.

\--

Meanwhile Mario was cleaning up for the night-straightening up chairs, putting away dishes...He occasionally took worried glances at the nearby window, gazing as the thunderclouds filled up the sky. Oh boy...Getting Luigi into bed with minimal trouble was going to be exhausting.

Speaking of Luigi...He’d been oddly quiet. 

Concerned, Mario trudged upstairs to go check on him.

“Luigi?” He called, lightly knocking on the bathroom door-which only made the younger brother wince in fright and curl into himself even more. Other than that, complete radio silence.

_ Something’s up, _ Mario thought. Without another word he pushed open the bathroom door, and there was Luigi almost on the verge of a meltdown.

Immediately the older brother rushed to his aid, lightly stroking his shoulders in an attempt to soothe and calm him down. “Shhhh. It’s okay, Weegie. You’re okay, lil’ bro.” he soothed.  Gradually Luigi calmed down, slowly unclasping his hands from around his ears…

“There now. What’s wrong?” Mario asked.

“L-Loud noises..” Luigi stammered in response. “Don’t like loud noises…”

“Oh? What kind of loud noises?”

“Storm…”

“You don’t like the storm?”   


“No…”

Mario just smiled sadly at his little brother. “Do you want earplugs tonight?” he asked, but didn’t get a response.

“Luigi?”

“No.”

“Alright then, let’s get you dried off and into bed,” Mario smiled. “I’m gonna have to pick you up, okay?”

“Yeah.”

With a tender hand Mario lightly gripped his brother’s side and eased him out of the tub, quickly pulling away when he was completely out of the water to avoid making Luigi panic. “You wanna dry yourself off?”   
  
“Yeah.” In fact the younger brother was already rubbing himself down. Mario just smiled and left to give him some privacy to dress himself.

He sighed as he closed the bathroom door. Nobody said that dealing with his little brother’s condition would be easy, doubly so (at least to Mario) since he was diagnosed as an adult. But he’d manage.

They’d manage.

~~

10:00. Bedtime had finally arrived. At least for Luigi, anyway.

He was quietly sitting in bed, nose-deep in a kart manual Mario had saved just for him. This one was for an ATV, standard model. Custom painted for Mario. He occasionally rocked back and forth as he read, humming quietly to himself as he waited for Mario to return.

“Luigi?” Mario called, entering his little brother’s bedroom. “Ready for bed?” As expected, Mario didn’t get a response- Luigi was too engrossed in the kart manual.

“Luigi?”

“Yeah.” 

“Ready for bed?” Mario asked again. 

“Yeah,” was Luigi’s response again as he put away the kart manual-carefully tucking it away with other, similar operation manuals. He wriggled under the cotton blankets as he waited for Mario to turn off the lights.

Smiling, the older brother flipped the light switch, killing the light in the room except for the faint glow of the skyline from the window. 

Luigi stared out the window, lightly humming to himself as he began to drift off to sleep. His humming slowed as his eyelids grew heavier, and as soon as he curled into himself, knees to his chest, he was fast asleep, his quiet breaths a clear indicator.

“G’night, Luigi,” Mario cooed, kissing his brother’s forehead and lightly stroking the palm of his hands before leaving the room, quietly closing the bedroom door behind him.

Mario sighed as he stretched out. Despite Luigi’s occasional meltdowns, today was a good day actually. 

As he strolled down the quiet, empty hallways, he passed a visibly worn photo of the two. It was an awkward photo- a 12-year-old Mario was smiling, cheering, posing goofily for the camera, while Luigi was paying attention to something in the opposite direction, and all that could be seen of him was his brown hair. Both brothers were perched on the stone steps of their hometown community center. Nevertheless his parents still kept the photo.

He just chuckled looking at it. Luigi was always an interesting child. 

Being as careful as he could, Mario put down the photo and went to go take a shower.

_ Maybe I’ll go pay Peach a visit tomorrow, _ he thought.


End file.
